Then and now

Each new item beside the archive item it descends from. The archive is on the left, the way it was; the 2026 item is on the right, the way it is.

In 2006 Intego said Apple's security updates already closed the Inqtana.d Bluetooth hole; in 2026 Apple says its block covers Safari and Mail, and a macOS update will cover curl.

In 2005 Apple opened the iTunes Music Store to Australians at A$1.69 a song; in 2026 Australia's Federal Court ordered Apple to open the iPhone to other stores from March 1, 2027.

In 2001 we reported the iPod the day after Steve Jobs showed it, $399 and in stores November 10; in 2026 the iPhone Duo reached the stores on the same date, and the lines came back.

In 2001 Apple's notes for Mail 1.1 listed 22 improvements and we found more crashes; in 2026 its notes for Pages, Numbers and Keynote 15.4.1 promised an assistant and the apps vanished.

In October 2001 Apple pushed an Internet Explorer security fix through Software Update; in October 2026 it blocked eight cracked certificates in two days and left the Mac's curl trusting them.

In October 1999 XLR8 sold a $649 G4 card you installed in your Power Mac yourself; in October 2026 Apple sells the M6 Mac mini's logic board and the manual to swap it.

Six days before Leopard shipped in October 2007, Apple posted its guided tour; in October 2026 the macOS 27.2 release candidate arrived ahead of a release expected by the end of the month.

In October 1999 Apple reinstated the Power Mac G4 backorders and pushed the 500 MHz model to the next year; in October 2026 iPhone Duo pre-orders slipped to January 25 within half an hour.

Apple's 45 percent growth led the U.S. PC market in Q3 2005, to a 4.2 or 4.3 percent share depending on the firm; in Q3 2026 Mac shipments fell 11 percent and the share rose to 9.5 or 11.7.

ATI's Radeon shipped as the latest 3D card for one Power Mac G4 in 2000; Apple's Minions paper pooled the idle GPUs built into every Mac on a network in 2026.

A catalog cover gave away the new iBooks and PowerBooks on the day Apple announced them in 2001; a Bloomberg reporter's post gave the October 28 date for the touch-screen MacBook Pros in 2026.

The unibody MacBooks of October 2008 took the Air's aluminum frame across the line; the two-pound 12-inch MacBook of 2017 was the line's lightest, and Apple called it obsolete in October 2026.

The LCD iMac of 2002 set a screen on a stainless steel neck over a white dome and took PC Magazine's Editor's Choice; the HomeView of 2026 sets a 7-inch screen on a steel hinge over a domed speaker.

The iMac G5 of October 2005 put Front Row and a six-button remote in the living room; the Apple TV 4K of October 2026 adds Siri AI, three microphones and a remote that Find My can locate.

Microsoft posted security fixes for three versions of Mac Office at once, October 2004; Microsoft stops posting them for Office 2021 for Mac, October 2026.

A $399.98 Epson USB laser on a MacZones catalog cover, October 1999; a $399.99 Epson inkjet sold as the alternative to laser, October 2026.

In 2005 we waited on a fourth-quarter call expected to bring $0.37 a share; in 2026 the wait is for $111.7 to $113.7 billion and John Ternus's first call.

Quake III Arena 1.32 for Mac OS X in October 2002, at 50 fps on our 800 MHz PowerBook G4; Transport Fever 3 for the Mac on the PC's launch day in 2026, asking for an M2 Pro.

In 1997 a reader warned that Service Pack 3 for NT did not fix a bug that crashed Windows from afar; in 2026 the yearly Windows 11 update is a 174KB switch that resets the support clock.

In 2003 Netgear's chief said Wi-Fi speeds would rise, with Super G next; in 2026 the first Wi-Fi 8 routers sell steadiness instead, and none is Netgear's.

Mac OS 9 put the Mac's file sharing on the internet with ShareWay IP, October 1999; macOS 27 removed AFP, and Time Capsule backups with it, September 2026.

Virtual PC 7 shipped in October 2004 and the news was that it ran on the G5; Parallels Desktop 27 shipped in 2026 with, per JFrog, a root-hole fix that only Apple silicon Macs can install.

Logic Express and Logic Pro 7.1.1, reliability fixes and Tiger compatibility, reported October 5, 2005; Logic Pro 12.4, four crash fixes and one new menu option, released September 29, 2026.

Our LED-backlit 15-inch MacBook Pro took Battery Update 1.3 in October 2007; the MacBook Pro is reported to get an OLED touch screen in October or November 2026.

Then, beta release notes for Mac OS 8.1, an updater to Mac OS 8 due in early December as a download and CD; now, macOS 27.0.1, the first updater to Golden Gate, 3.3GB with one sentence of notes.

MacSoft's America's Greatest Arcade Hits 3D reviewed for the Mac in September 1999; Feral's Viking Sagas expansion for Age of Empires II on the Mac in September 2026.

The first iBooks reached the readers who had ordered them in September 1999; the MacBook Neo, six months after its own arrival, in September 2026.

David Pogue's iLife '05 Missing Manual, September 2005; David Pogue's 125-request missing manual for Siri AI, September 2026.

Opera 6.0 for Mac reached Beta 1 on Opera's own engine, September 2002; Opera 136 reached Stable on Google's Chromium 152, September 2026.

A Sony Ericsson T68i put caller ID and SMS on a Jaguar Mac over Bluetooth, September 2002; macOS 27 puts the whole iPhone in a window you can resize, September 2026.

Six free WWDC sessions on ADC TV in September 2002; six free iPhone Duo Tech Talks and the Xcode 27.1 beta in September 2026.

PC Magazine's G5-versus-Dell comparison and the price it got wrong, September 2003; the first M6 and M5 Ultra Geekbench scores against Apple's own claims, September 2026.

Bill Fox's second week with Snow Leopard's Mail 4.1 and its Exchange bugs, September 2009; the first week of macOS 27 Golden Gate and the bugs reported in it, September 2026.

The Mac OS X Public Beta on the editors' iMac and Power Mac G4 in September 2000; the first macOS 27.2 developer beta, two days after Golden Gate shipped, in September 2026.

Apple added the new iMac G5 to its iMac support page, September 2004; Apple moved the last 21.5-inch Intel iMac to its vintage list, September 2026.

Apple agreed to keep patching Jaguar after Panther shipped, November 2003; Tahoe gets its first patch after Golden Gate, September 2026.

About nine hours per charge from Logitech in 2005; up to 22 hours with the case, and noise cancellation, for $129 in 2026.

Twenty-one years, $400, and the display is still your problem.

The original, from the January 2007 keynote, is the phone Ternus measures the Duo against.

The 8GB iPhone, $599 in 2007; the iPhone 18 Pro, $1,199 in 2026, with an aperture that moves.

Intel came in with the MacBook Pro and iMac in January 2006; it goes out with macOS 27.

The Power Mac G5 shipping on schedule in August 2003; a Mac Studio with 36 CPU cores shipping September 22, 2026.

Windows Update carried propaganda in June 1999; in September 2026 it carries a patch and not yet the taskbar.

The Mac OS X Public Beta, September 2000; the macOS 27 public beta, 2026, with a Siri that talks back.

Halo reached the Mac in December 2003, years after the PC; Apple's toolkit now exists to shorten that wait.

Mac OS X out next Saturday, March 2001; macOS 27 out next week, September 2026, and the Intel Macs out with it.

A proof-of-concept Trojan hiding in an MP3 in 2004; infostealers posing as Apple's own tools in 2026.

The last time the top job changed hands in a hurry, July 1997; a hardware engineer takes it in 2026.

A $161 million quarterly loss in October 1997; $109.4 billion of quarterly revenue in 2026.

A keynote-day notice for Steve Jobs in January 2001; the same notice for John Ternus's first keynote in September 2026.